Remember that first month
by Mcube
Summary: The experts call it New Relationship Energy, when it's between a fiery genius and a passionate alien, the term takes on a whole new meaning. A series of writing challenges from the We're Just Saiyan community. "Four weeks of contradictions", prompts exploring the dualities Sin/Salvation, War/Surrender, Promise/Deal broken, and Pain/Pleasure (not necessarily in that order).
1. Cosmic Dancer

**All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are my own. I do not own Dragon Ball(Z) nor am I making any money off of this. No copyright infringement is intended.**

I'm hooked on these writing challenges. This one is also a prompt from the "We're just Saiyan" Google+ community.( If you haven't already, go check it out). This is part 1 of 4, the challenge is "Four Weeks of Contradictions" and this is my take on it. **_(Pleasure/Pain)_**

* * *

"_Now, from tadasana bring your right foot up and behind your ear while tipping forward. Keep the four corners of your left foot grounded into your sticky mat, and remember your pranayama._"

"Lady, have you lost your fucking mind? This defies the constraints, _ugh_, of the human body, _oooh_, and, I think the laws of, _oww_, physics. Yeah, 'cause breathing, _pshhh_, always helps." Bulma admonished the woman on her screen.

Vegeta walked into the bed room to catch a view of his woman's well toned ass stuck in the air and her foot being pulled, by her, in an unnatural position around her head. "The fuck are you doing?"

"Vege-oof" Vegeta watched his woman tumble to the floor in a heap of red lycra and limbs. She gathered herself to sit cross-legged in front of her new...well, she wasn't sure how to define him yet. The times were few when she caught him smiling, even rarer still were the times he actually laughed. "I'm flattered that you would find humor in my pain." She quipped. "I'm doing yoga. My guru is on vacation for the month and I can't miss my practice or I get stiff." She stood and stretched herself into a half moon posture, first to the right, then to the left.

"Why do you warp yourself into these positions knowing it will be painful?" he baited her.

"Ha! You think this body is natural, shit, sorry, I'm not chiseled perfection packed into a god-like alien body. I have to actually work at all this beauty." She winked as she walked past him and nabbed the towel from around his shoulders, headed for the bathroom.

"I should think that qualifies you as a hypocrite."

"I'm sorry, what?" She spun on him, eyebrows raised; she was _sure_ she didn't hear him right.

"You bitch incessantly about the training I put myself through; and I come upon you wrenched into contorted positions, by choice."

"Oh _hardly_ the same thing! Daddy isn't building a regen tank because I pull a muscle working the Cosmic Dancer. When you drag my unconscious bleeding body out of the yoga studio, then you can talk" she flipped his towel back to him.

This relationship was new, to both of them. Vegeta never felt compelled to give two shits and a damn about another person, and Bulma wasn't accustomed to a man who was her equal. They were still in the "exploration phase" of the relationship. He agreed to move into her room just a week ago. He had to admit, once he convinced her to clean the sty, it was a comfortable arrangement.

"On the contrary, I believe it's precisely the same thing." He playfully wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You push your body beyond its limits, however narrow those weak earthling limits are, for your own personal gain."

She spun around, still in his embrace, and slid her hands up and through his hair. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to enjoy her touch. "I push myself beyond my limits because I've discovered sex with a Saiyan requires one to be a contortionist." She kissed him lightly on the nose.

"Woman, you don't seem to complain." He dipped his head low and nuzzled her neck right under her ear. He found she tended to purr when he kissed her there. "In fact the only words you seem to be able to form are 'damn Vegeta, deeper'." His deep sultry voice rumbled in her ear.

Bulma felt her control slipping. She forced herself to gather her senses, and pushed away from her prince. She strode across the room to her dresser, (it was fun to have a distinction between 'his' and 'hers'), and pulled out a dark blue hoodie.

"What is this Cosmic Dancer you referred to?" He asked as he leaned against the desk.

"Oh! It's one of my favorites. Here look." She tossed the sweatshirt on the bed, and held out her arms, making sure there was enough room around her. Standing with her feet hip width apart, she held out her left arm straight in front of her for balance. "Now I lift my right leg up in an arc behind me, like this." Vegeta was impressed by the fluidity with which she moved. Like true warrior, this slight little earth woman flowed with the discipline of a tested fighter. When she gained control of her balance, she reached both hands up, arched her back and grasped her right foot, which by this time was almost touching her head.

Vegeta was mesmerized by the flexibility and development in her back and hips. She'd carry healthy cubs. He glided over to where she was posed. Her eyes were closed in meditation, so she wasn't aware of him studying her like a sculpture.

"What other forms can you assume?" He asked quietly, reverently. He pulled his hand away before he touched her.

She gracefully released the pose and resumed a normal stance. "Forms? Oh I guess these are like your martial arts forms, except I don't move much. There's a bunch of them. I've been doing this forever, but mom can do more of the guru asanas than I can."

The thought of the crazy old blond in those same positions suddenly made Vegeta fall limp. "Never mention your mother doing _that_ ever again.' He shivered. "The image is going to take forever to fade now."

Bulma swatted at him with her hoodie. "Jerk. I meant Mom's been doing yoga since she was a girl. It takes as much pain and practice to get into those positions as it takes you to-" She stopped herself before she validated his original argument. It was too late, she realized, when she saw that self-righteous smirk. "OK, I get it. Sometimes you have to push yourself beyond your limits." She conceded.

Bulma met him half way across the room and linked her arms around his neck. His arms followed, slipping around her waist. "I guess I forget your threshold for pain and mine are worlds apart." She chuckled at her own double entendre. "I suppose severing a femoral artery isn't much different for you than if I tweek a hammy."

"Tweek a ham-" He began to question. "Pull a hamstring muscle." She clarified.

Vegeta smirked. "Your earth euphemisms amuse me. Fine woman, I will make every attempt to refrain from destroying the training equipment, " Vegeta was almost annoyed with himself for making deals with the woman, "if you agree to allow me to take you in any one of these postures." He chuckled a deep sultry laugh.

It was lost on Bulma how he didn't really promise to refrain from hurting himself, because a thousand tasty images filled her mind. Was he really that turned on by yoga postures? Before her head exploded with the sheer ecstasy of it all, she shook herself into reality. "You can take me in any position you want. And I will try not to bitch at you for dragging blood trails through the house." She closed the space between them and kissed him.

She broke their kiss when a thought popped into her head. "If you're really _that_ into it, there's this practice called tantric yoga. It requires lots of training and discipline."

"I've 'surfed' the internet too, woman." He flashed a wry grin. "I know all about this _Kama Sutra_."


	2. We'd always be friends…

_**We'd always be friends…**_

* * *

Penny loved her job. Her friends didn't believe her when she told them she was sworn to secrecy with regard to her work. She may have been just a secretary, no "_front desk liaison_", but Capsule Corporation was no ordinary employer.

Things in the front office had been slow since she returned from lunch. Just as she felt herself dozing, the most beautiful sight on the premises came crashing through the door.

"Good afternoon, Prince Vegeta." Penny perked up and noticed he was lugging another shattered training bot behind him. "If you're here to see Ms. Briefs, she left strict orders that she wasn't to be disturbed. Bad phone call this morning; boy is she in one of her moods."

"That doesn't apply to me. " He didn't even pause to acknowledge her as he swept past the front desk, turned to his right and plowed through the blast doors of the hallway leading to Bulma's private lab.

Penny chuckled quietly to herself. Bulma Briefs_ would_ have to go off-world to find someone who could measure up to the intense bitchiness that defined her character. But damn could she find some fine specimens of man-hyde. She watched the lower half of the tasty alien prince walk down the hallway toward Bulma's lab and wondered just how many alien races looked like that.

Vegeta walked through another set of blast doors, into a war zone. A file cabinet lay on its side, and three separate projects were partially assembled on her lab benches. When Bulma looked up to see Vegeta standing in her entryway, she launched on him before he could speak.

"Oh abso-fucking-lutely no! I am in nowhere near the mood to put up with your shit today. Throw these at Daddy if you need them fixed immediately, and while you're at it just go to hell for a while." She screeched at him in what he was sure was one single breath.

"What the hell is your problem? I know for a goddamned fact that I haven't spoken to you once today."

"You thoughtless prick! You're all alike. You expect everything to be given to you but you never give anything in return."

"Woman, if you don't stop addressing me in such an irrational manner I'm going to walk out of here and leave you to your frivolous emotions until you can cease your unremitting disrespect." He tried to speak with an even tone, and not lose his temper. He found he sounded more condescending that way.

Quite unpredictably, Bulma flopped down on her swivel chair and began to cry. "Typical…you all leave…when I need you." She sobbed.

Vegeta hung his head. He hated this. He was a warrior; he knew nothing of human female emotions. He was discovering they were most complex. "Speak, woman." It was about as comforting as he could manage.

"Yamcha called this morning. He told me he wasn't coming to Thanksgiving. He promised when we broke up, we'd always be friends." The pitch of her voice became higher as she tried to contain her sobs. "He promised me he'd always be here for me even though we weren't together anymore. He told me he was going to try to be OK with you and me. He promised; now this."

"This is a celebration of some sort? I assume it's important to you?"

"He hasn't missed one in ten years. He's always been here." She propped her elbow on the nearest bench and supported her head with her fist while composing herself. "How could he let me down like that?" Bulma breathed a deep sigh.

She stood, and grabbed the main console of the training bot from Vegeta's hand. "Oh forget it; just put the rest of it over there. I'll fix it before dinner." Her tone was dismissive.

Vegeta figured it would be an opportune time to leave her, but at the same time he felt a nagging impulse to fix something.

* * *

Vegeta flew east, over the great desert, following the weakling's Ki. He found the fool practicing some idiotic sloppy forms at the base of an odd rock formation.

"What do you want?" Yamcha felt Vegeta coming and decided to put on his best show of force. He felt stronger for training in the wilderness.

"A month ago you went to great pains to let me know how you felt about this arrangement between the woman and me; and how it was something you didn't approve of. You threatened me with the '_wrath of Goku_'; I believe that's how you phrased it, if I did anything to hurt the woman. I should think Kakarott would bring down hell on _you_ for the same offense. Now the woman weeps with some babbling female emotion over a promise _you_ broke to her. I am bound by honor and I will not let this go unpunished."

The mention of "_Goku_" and "_bring down hell_" made Yamcha nervous. "Whoa, wait. I never broke a promise to Bulma- well not intentionally. Besides, _you_ promised Bulma you wouldn't kill anybody on Earth."

"I made a living making people wish their lives would end, rather than suffer the pain I could inflict. In fact, I should think I'd like to see how much anguish the human body can take without dying. You broke your promise apparently when you refused to attend this Thanksgiving celebration-"

"She's upset about that! Dude, I thought I was off the hook for that. It's your problem now."

"My problem?"

"Yeah, family holidays are boyfriend duty, man."

"Boyfriend?"

"Ha! You don't even know what you got into." Yamcha sat cross-legged atop a large boulder.

Vegeta paced in front of the boulder. "Explain…NOW!"

"Thanksgiving's a big family time. It's also a cluster fuck of drama. Ms. Bunny's family all comes over to the compound. They're rich old money, so there's always somebody getting pissed with somebody for something stupid; usually something that happened so long ago that the principles are probably dead by now. I went every year either 'cause I was living there or 'cause B wanted the support. I figured with you around now, she'd want you to fill the support role. I didn't do Thanksgiving cause I wanted too, I felt sort of obligated. Foods fantastic, though." He threw in as an afterthought.

He stopped pacing and looked up. "The woman didn't mention food."

"Oh yeah, the whole thing's about food. Loads of it, you might actually get full."

"Never happen. Does Kakarott know of this?"

"Yeah, sort of. This neck of the world, I guess it's where my people came from too, celebrates something similar, but it happens tomorrow. They call it Labor Thanksgiving day, it's a celebration of the harvest and Ox King has a big party to thank his people for their labors. Puar and I were going to Fire Mountain with Roshi and Krillin, and all." Yamcha looked down to Vegeta with a half grin. "She really wanted me there."

"She was quite adamant. It seems the wom-Bulma felt as if you were betraying a promise by not supporting her."

"Well, I guess if she needs me, I'll go." He jumped off the boulder and stood a little straighter; felt a bit more courageous. "Hey, I'll give you props for this." He gestured between the two of them. "I didn't think you'd actually put yourself out for her."

"Yes well, it doesn't go any further than this desert. Where is the shape shifter by the way?"

"Puar's at Roshi's. His skin gets all chaify out in this dry heat for too long." Yamcha shrugged. "Naa, it's just between us; guy code, man."

Vegeta took off to the north east. Curiously, he headed the opposite direction from West City. Supper time was approaching and Yamcha was hungry. He also had a phone call to make.

* * *

It was around midnight when Vegeta landed on the lawn behind the living area of the Capsule compound. Quietly he entered the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator. The old blond always left him plenty of food.

Bulma was waiting for him to return home. She thought she heard him in the kitchen and when she walked in, sure enough, there he was with his head buried in the fridge.

"Hey, look, sorry for losing my shit earlier. Yamcha's screwed me over so many times I figured he was just doing it again. Turns out it was just a misunderstanding. He called me a little while ago, said he and Puar were invited to Goku's for their thanksgiving, too. Something about the day's being different, and Chichi's people celebrating tomorrow, I don't know. I guess I assumed he meant he wasn't coming here, but whatever. Anyway, we ironed everything out. He's going to be here next week."

He faced her, robotically stuffing a turkey sandwich into his mouth. Figuring she'd get no response, she continued. "Yeah, so Yamcha's coming for Thanksgiving dinner, and my mom's family too, so don't do anything stupid or violent, K?" He still gave no answer. "Right, yeah, so I'm going to bed. I'll probably be asleep before you get there, so, night." She started into the other room, but turned to face him. "And _please_ promise to be on your best behavior next week."

"I never make a promise unless I intend to keep it. Don't ever forget that." He grabbed the bottle of water off the counter, and followed her upstairs.


End file.
